We then made our way over to the Five Palms restaurant for a nice brunch. Located in the Mana Kai hotel, the restaurant has an amazing view overlooking Keawakapu Beach. The picture says it all really. Although the sun was shining down, we got a seat in the patio section. You don’t have to be worried, there is a mesh covering above and it does a good job of shielding out the sun and keeping the humidity down.

As for the food, Esther went with the Baked Island Banana Pancake, while I went for some dish whose name I forget but I have pictures! The wait for the food was pretty damn long, but they made it up for it by giving us some crab cakes, which were very nice! The pancake was a big big portion. The pancake itself was a bit too thick and heavy for my liking. It almost had the consistency of bread, while I think I’d prefer something more fluffy. It did have a generous serving of banana inside though, and the macadamia nut honey butter was very tasty. My fish dish was pretty good too. The light fish was a good combination with the creamy sauce. The rice was a little mushy though, but no big deal.

Since we had to be in Lahaina after dinner, we decided to make another trip up to the north eastern side of the island. This time, we drove past Napili and went all the way to the Nakalele Blowhole. You might think that the drive round past Kapalua is somewhat like Hana, but it really isn’t. There are many opportunities to check out the red volcanic rock everywhere. It is quite impressive to see the layers of rock that form the entire cliff. It is a really long walk down to the blowhole, and we didn’t bother with that. However, even by looking from way up top from the parking lot, it is quite impressive to see the water fly out of the blowhole… although the water volume does depend on the season and the current tide level, so YMMV.

Returning back to Lahaina, our early brunch was making us hungry, so we took a leisurely walk along Front St (again!) to find something for dinner. We decided upon BJ’s Chicago Pizzeria for dinner. Although the website has a menu, it is nothing like the one we had in Maui, so consider yourself warned. We were getting pretty hungry, so we each got a starter (Caesar salad for Esther, and angel hair pasta salad for me), and a small BJ’s Favorite pizza to share. The caesar salad was fairly forgettable, but the angel hair pasta salad was excellent. The menu mentioned that it was “refreshing”, but I wasn’t really sure how pasta could be refreshing. It turns out it is served slightly chilled and it is truly refreshing. This is definitely something I’d want to try making on a hot hot summer day! The pizza itself was quite tasty too, nice and thick crust with plenty of toppings. The small looks deceptively tiny when you look at what other tables are having, but if you have a starter, a small pizza will be more than enough for two. If you do want to try it out, it looks like this place gets crowded very early so go there early.

Our final event of the night was something we really decided on only when we got here. We anticipated the fact that there wouldn’t be much to do at night here, and it was somewhat true. Maui Revealed did mention that the best entertainment at night in Maui was the Warren and Annabelle’s magic show. We decided to take the plunge and by some stroke of luck got tickets at short notice for our final night here. The website has pretty much all the information you need, but when we were in Maui, we didn’t really have easy access to the internet, so it was unknown to us that they validate parking in Lahaina Center for up to 4 hours. We ended up paying $10 and parking a fair distance away. I thought the show itself was really worth it. Even the way you enter the theater is really special (I won’t spoil it for you)! While we were sitting around waiting for the show to start, we got approached to ask if we wanted to help Warren with his act. This meant that we got to sit right in the front, so naturally we said yes. We got a fantastic seat right up front, but honestly, even being that close, I could not explain how the tricks were being pulled off! It is something to watch magic on TV, but to see it up close like that without any logical explanation is really mind boggling. It was a great way to end our final night in Maui, and I definitely have no regrets about watching it.

With that, our final night in Maui came to an end. We packed most of our stuff into our luggage and tried to eat as much of our remaining food as we could. We didn’t really have to wake up early the next day as we only had to check in at 1245pm… so we weren’t really rushed. Stay tuned for the truly final day and crappy food all round!

Next up was a visit to the Iao Valley in central Maui. Unfortunately, as we made our way into the valley, it started to rain. Luckily it was just a slight drizzle and actually quite refreshing. The raindrops were so small it almost felt like walking through a fine mist of water, pretty good for the tropical heat! The main attraction of the valley is the Iao Needle, a phallic object that rises 1200ft from the valley floor. There is a little path that winds up a hill so you get a nice view of the Needle, but having seen Haleakala the day before, this was just slightly underwhelming to me.

The needle was nothing special to me, but the rest of the little park was cool. The park has had all “alien” vegetation removed, leaving only the original plant life and whatever the first Hawai’ians brought with them. You see taro, bananas, sugar cane and other traditional foods that they used to cultivate right there in the valley. I don’t think the Iao Valley is a absolute must-see attraction, but it is a very nice change from the drier beach side of the island.

On our way back to Kihei, we stopped by the Snorkel Bob’s next to our hotel and grabbed a boogie board for the day for around $6. The weather was actually a little cloudy, which was a slight disappointment as we were hoping for some serious sun to get a serious tan. By extension of the cloudy weather, the water was actually quite chilly! it was cold enough that I couldn’t just hop in and had to ease myself in. Once you get inside the water it is quite fine though, it was just the initial shock. So… boogie boarding is quite fun! It takes a while to learn when to jump in with the wave, but once you pick it up, it is pretty easy. Definitely very satisfyign you catch the wave right and ride it all the way into shore. I just wish the waves were slightly bigger that day.

One of the restaurants that I had been wanting to try was Ruth’s Chris Steak House. The main attraction of Ruth’s Chris is the fact that they prepare their steaks at a sizzling 1500 °F, and then serve it on plates that are 500 °F. It sounded gimmicky to me, but it was worth a try. We started with some jumbo sea scallops which were indeed jumbo in size. They were pretty tasty too! As for the steaks, I chose a ribeye medium-rare plus, while Esther had a filet done medium-rare. They were accompanied by 2 sides (which cost extra BTW) of a fully loaded baked potato and some sauteed mushrooms.

My steak was really quite good, with plenty of marbling and lots of flavour. We thought Esther’s filet was slightly undercooked and the middle was a little too rare. One thing that was common to both steaks was that when the plates cooled, they had a rapidly congealing pool of fat accumulating at the bottom, which was slightly disturbing when you think about it. The potato was very nice, tender and full of condiments. The mushrooms were… well mushrooms. Hard to screw that one up. Including a glass of wine and a lava flow (not as good as the one at the lu’au), the bill came up to over USD$100. Definitely our most expensive meal of the vacation. Would I go back? I don’t think so, the steak felt overpriced and (still) gimmicky when all was said and done. I’m pretty sure I can find equivalent steak at lower prices locally, but I suppose when you’re on vacation, you tend to splurge a little. No regrets for trying it.

With the night drawing to a close, we only had a one full day left to do whatever we had to do. We felt pretty satisfied though, with everything that we had wanted to see completed. The final day would be just another relaxing trip to wherever we wanted to go… except for our final activity which was to come at night!

Is it worth waking up that early? I’d say yes. Make it up there early enough, and you’ll see so many stars you won’t believe your eyes! The sunrise was really nice too. According to the weather report, sunrise was at 653am, and right on the dot, the sun rose over the horizon, illuminating a blanket of clouds below us. It was beautiful! Once the sun rises though, it’s kinda over, so just start making your way down.

Thanks to Maui Revealed, we found a secret little road that no one else took, and it was absolutely spectacular! It is called Skyline Road and I’d definitely recommend going on it. Take the exit near the summit and follow it to the end. Turn left onto the road that has the “Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted” sign (don’t worry). Drive to the end till you see a dirt trail on your left. Park there, walk down the trail and enjoy the stunning view. You have an unobstructed view right down to the coast, it really is something to behold. The best part was that no one knew about this; there was no one else along that road the entire time we were there, and this made it really peaceful and serene.

We found another must-see lookout spot on the way down thanks to Maui Revealed again! On the way down between the 18 and 17 mile markers, there is a little parking lot for the Lelewi Lookout. It doesn’t look like much, but persevere and follow the (boring) trail. When you reach the end, you have a fantastic view into the vast crater of Haleakala. The rest of the drive down was boring. I was sleepy by then, and we kept getting stuck behind the damn cyclists. At least they pull over once in a while to let you through, but not often enough if you ask me.

We were back in Kihei by 1030am or so. We grabbed some brunch at the Kihei Caffe, which is just down the street from our hotel. I had a most greasy but tasty pork fried rice, and Esther had a breakfast of 2 eggs, home fries (potatoes really) and bacon. Our stomachs filled with grease, we napped till 2pm before heading out to Wailea beach. This was the first real chance we had to actually spend some serious time at the beach and it was good!

After soaking up the sun, we made our way to Lahaina for dinner. Being Christmas Eve, we weren’t expecting many restaurants to be open. We did find one that was open and had a fairly short wait (20 mins). Even better, it was a restaurant that we wanted to try anyway. It is called the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and yes, it is based off the Forrest Gump movie. Basically everything in there is based off the movie. They have authentic memorabilia in a showcase by the entrance, and all the dishes are either related to the movie in some way, or contain shrimp. An interesting little thing is the license plate holder thing that you use to signal your server. The red “Stop Forrest Stop” indicates you want some help, and you set it to the blue “Run Forrest Run” otherwise. Pretty interesting.

We started with the Maui Revealed-recommended Shrimper’s Net Catch and some lemonade drink whose name I forget. We chose the garlic version over the cajun and it was not too bad. There was a really generous amount of shrimp, but the sauce could have been more garlicky. There was so much shrimp we ended up eating this all the way to the end of our meal! The lemonade drink was not bad, but I’d get the freckled lemonade for the same price, since that cames with free refills.

Barely a minute after the appy came, our mains arrived! Maui Revealed warned that this place liked to have fast turnovers, but this was pretty damn fast! I didn’t even know you could cook pasta that quickly… but apparently it is possible. Esther had fish and chips, which was pretty average, definitely not up to the gold standard of Go Fish. My shrimp scampi was much better. The top bit was a little dry but as you got down to the lemon-butter sauce, it was yummy! There was another very generous serving shrimp, which was much appreciated.

Despite the rapid-fire service, the meal itself was not too bad, and the place deserves a try, even if simply for the kitsch factor. They even have a little gift store attached that sells cutesy Forrest / Bubba Gump stuff. We finished off dinner with a Haagen Dazs ice cream, which wasn’t all that great but honestly, ice cream in the tropics never fails to please. That brought an end to a very long, but really interesting Christmas Eve!

We spent the afternoon shopping in what is the only major mall in Maui, Queen Ka’ahumanu Mall. It’s a nice open air mall with a fair amount of stores. Being 2 days before Christmas, the mall was naturally packed with people doing last minute shopping. We actually managed to find good deals at the American Eagle store there, so it wasn’t a waste of time by any means.

Dinner (sorry no pictures!) was back in Kihei at a Japanese restaurant called Sansei. It’s not just a Japanese restaurant, they serve regular food like steak and pasta too. We got their just before 6pm and it turns out they have a 25% off before 6 deal. We quickly ordered our food and snacked on some complimentary edamame. First up was a lobster and asparagus roll. Interesting idea and it actually turned out pretty tasty. Next was a combo platter of some fresh nigiri sushi and california rolls. I’d say Vancouver has better california rolls, although the fish was as good as anything I have tasted here. Next up was an appetizer the sushi chef recommended, which was a miso flavoured butterfish. Butterfish has a most excellent texture and flavour to it, the miso was a good match for it, although it was a bit on the sweet side. The last item was prawn tempura, which was nothing special really. Generous sized prawns, but the batter was average at best.

The service was very fast at dinner, and I think it was probably because they wanted to get us out for the real dinner crowd. I don’t blame them, and we were out of there within 45 minutes. We were back in the hotel by 7pm, and we forced ourselves to hit the sack early, because an even earlier morning awaited us in a couple of hours, because we were going up Haleakala! Stay tuned for more!

There definitely is a lot to see along the way. The terrain is rugged, and there are many waterfalls and hikes if you are inclined to do such things. Maui Revealed warned that a day trip would not allow one to see all the sights along the way, and so we had taken a look the night before to plan what we wanted to check out. Even if you don’t have the book, there are plenty of scenic lookouts along the way, and since you can’t really go any faster than 20mph, you’ll have plenty of time to pull over and enjoy the sights.

Just before you get to Hana, there is an attraction that I’d definitely recommend to everyone. It’s called the Hana Lava Tube and it was really cool! It is basically a tour inside an ancient lava tube. It costs $11.95/person and you get a flashlight and (optional) hard hat. We got there pretty early and there was only 1 other couple inside who left just as we went in, so we were the only ones inside the whole tube. The cave is seriously dark. Try turning off your flashlights or simply looking behind you. The level of darkness is unlike anything I have ever seen (or rather, not seen)! If you keep the flashlights on, the path itself is easy to navigate and there are informational signs located at regular intervals. The tour should take under an hour and it definitely is an unique adventure!

We finally got to Hana around lunch time. Honestly, there isn’t much to see in Hana. We parked in the bay, got some lunch from Tutu’s, which is a little snack bar right on the bay. Your food choices in Hana are fairly limited, it was either that or the hotel, which apparently is horrible. Esther had a hot dog, while I had some BBQ chicken on rice, which was actually not too bad. We sat on the beach and ate a peaceful lunch under the sun.

After lunch, we got out of Hana and continued along the highway towards O’heo Gulch, also known as the 7 Sacred Pools. We didn’t find it all that interesting, but I guess the number of cars in the parking lot means that a lot of other people do. Keep in mind that you have to pay $10 to enter as it is part of Haleakala National Park. However, there are a couple of interesting trails (including one to a bamboo forest) so it is worth it. Moreover, the pass is valid for 3 days, so if you intend to do a trip up the volcano, then try to schedule it close to your Hana trip.

Although most rental car companies dissaude you from continuing south and doing a loop on the Hana Highway, Maui Revealed mentions that it is actually quite doable. However, we couldn’t go any further because the road was damaged by the recent earthquake and as such it was actually physically blocked by rocks. This left us with no choice but to turn back and drive back along the same road that we had come from. This was definitely pretty boring, and only the windiness of the roads kept me awake.

Back in Kihei in the early evening, we headed to Kalama Village to find some dinner and do some shopping. Kalama Village is a little open air mall with restaurants and stores selling touristy stuff. Dinner was first. We chose a “New Jersey style” restaurant called Bada Bing. We got a seat on the patio, which actually wasn’t all the great as it faces the parking lot. I think they have another patio which faces the main road, probably better! Maui Revealed mentioned that the grilled chicken pesto was awesome, so I got that and Esther had their version of a Hawaiian pizza, made with kalua pig (the lu’au pig which looks like pulled pork). the food was delicious! The grilled chicken pesto had a very generous amount of chicken and it wasn’t overly creamy. The pizza was great too, with the kalua pig on top, BBQ sauce and pineapples. It was so good I wanted to eat the leftovers but I was so full I couldn’t! We finished off the night with some souvenir shopping in the village and headed back for an early night. A very long day spent mostly in the car, but it was very interesting and very different from the Maui that we had seen so far.

With that out of the way, we made our way to Lahaina. Parking is reputed to be a nightmare in Lahaina, but we made it there fairly early (around 930pm even with all the scenic lookout stops) so we didn’t really have any problems. We started from the south end of town and moved north. The first major stop was the Banyan Tree Park. This entire park is covered by a single banyan tree! You’ll have to see it to believe it.

Lunch was at a supposed Lahaina legend, Cheeseburger In Paradise (811 Front St, 611-4855). Located right on the water along Front St (the main street of Lahaina), it has a fantastic view of the ocean just a couple feet away from you. They have a wide selection of burgers and all the regular sides like fries and such. We opted for a burger each, a side of fries (they cost extra) and a mai tai. The burgers were average at best, large meat patty and soggy buns made for a mess to eat. The mai tai however, was just disgusting. It was bad enough that we could only finish half of it before calling it quits. We should have noticed earlier that the table next to us left a whole drink untouched and many others half finished. Consider yourself warned. At least the fries were tasty…

With lunch out of the way, our 3 hour free parking was coming to an end, so we took a drive up towards Ka’anapali and Napili. We made our way down to this interesting rock formation called the Dragon’s Teeth. The waves were crashing again the shore pretty hard (which would explain the teeth-like shapes along the shore) and standing with your back to the waves and feeling the rumble of the next wave approaching is pretty scary!

By the time we were done there, it was getting close to the time for the lu’au. We made our way there, but they said we couldn’t go in until 515pm. They suggested that we go across the road to the Lahaina Cannery Mall. It is a really small mall with nothing interesting in it. We just sat around for about an hour before heading back to the lu’au. When we booked the lu’au, we specified traditional mat seating instead of tables and chairs. This had both good and bad sides to it. The good side was that you are located right in the front with no one to block your view. However, sitting on a mat for 3 hours isn’t all that good for blood circulation in your legs. Be sure to stand up or move your legs once in a while.

The food at the lu’au was pretty decent, with all you can eat everything, including the underground oven-cooked pig. The open bar was pretty good too, with a wide selection of drinks. There was more than enough food for everyone, including second helpings so even the hungriest person will feel at home here. The performances were interesting, although they don’t have the funky fire dancers and focus instead on the traditional Hawai’ian culture.

By the time this was done, it was pretty late already, we headed back to the hotel (a long drive at around 45 minutes on winding and dark coastal roads). We had a long day ahead driving the Hana Highway, so we hit the sack ASAP!

The flight itself was ok, service was friendly and the food edible. The entertainment is pretty crappy though, no personal screens, just those old small CRTs in the middle of the aisle. No complaints from me though, I was super sleepy and slept through most of the flight.

We touched down in sunny Maui at around 3pm, waited a long long time for our luggage and finally made our way to the rental car counter. Interestingly enough, Kahului airport is small and the rental cars are actually located off-site. To get to the counter, you have to take a shuttle that brings you there. At the counter, we were tempted to upgrade to a convertible, but the two choices (Ford Mustang and Chrysler Sebring) were both disgusting so we stuck with the compact car that we got (Chevy Cobalt coupe – equally disgusting). With the key in the car, we were finally ready to go! Armed with directions from the counter staff, we slowly made our way to our hotel. The roads in Maui are much smaller and narrower than most of the roads in Vancouver. Most of the roads only have a single lane for each direction and as a result traffic is pretty bad. Nevertheless, we made it to our hotel fairly quickly and had a painless check-in. Once in the room, it was time to get out of the winter clothing and change into something more comfortable.

By the time this was all done, we were starving despite it being only 5pm (well, 7pm Vancouver time). I didn’t feel like driving out for dinner, so we just walked down the street and found a Greek restaurant mentioned in Maui Revealed. It’s called the Greek Bistro (2511 S. Kihei Rd, 879-9330) and it is kinda hidden behind a Fred’s Mexican Cafe. You still get a slight ocean view from the patio, but honestly it isn’t all that great. No great loss though, we beat the dinner rush and got some decent food. I got a chicken and lamb souvlaki, while Esther got a fish and shrimp souvlaki.

The food was kinda different from the Greek food we are used to in Vancouver. The pita served as a base for the meat, and there was sauce drizzled all over it. This made the pita more soggy than what we are used to, but the sauce was tasty and the meat tender and well-seasoned. A nice meal to start the vacation to!

We visited a Safeway after dinner to grab some water and snacks, and we made it an early night… resting never hurts during a nice relaxing vacation!

With the trip itself confirmed, we now looked towards finding activities to do. The first thing that we definitely wanted to experience was a lu’au. The best one appeared to be the Old Lahaina Lu’au, so we booked that online. This turned out to be a good idea, as there was barely any space for us left, so I’d definitely recommend booking that very early.

A good guidebook was the next thing that I got. Avoiding the usual Fodor’s, Frommer’s and all that, I went for the best: Maui Revealed. This guide would turn out to be absolutely invaluable in planning every facet of our trip, from activities, sights and food. Just about everything that we did, saw and ate ended up being from the book. It only cost $13 from Amazon.ca and I’d highly recommend anyone going to Hawai’i to get it!

The one other activity that we booked from Vancouver was snorkeling aboard the Four Winds II. Esther made all the calls to Hawai’i via Skype, which offers free US and Canada calling till the end of the year (not long left!).

The last thing to do was to confirm our flight with Harmony Airlines, and we did that a couple of days before departure. All you have to do on the departure day itself is turn up and present your passports. No need for anything else.

Keep reading for the trip itself!

The Parliament building was designed by a 25 year old architect named Francis Rattenbury in 1893 to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. The building currently has over 3,300 bulbs affixed to the exterior, they even put up red and green ones for Christmas!

Although we were 10 minutes late for the tour, we managed to catch up to them and listen in to interesting facts about the buildings.

Very pretty stained glass…

House of Commons: This is where all the MLAs meet and chit chat, pass bills and stuff.

Smile!

Designed by a 25 year old… wow!

After the tour, the rest of the building had nothing to see anyway, so we left and headed across the road to the Empress Hotel. Our main objective was not to tour the hotel, but instead to visit our final tourist attraction: Miniature World.

Of all the sights I saw in Victoria when I last came as a 8 year old, I remember Miniature World most vividly. They have over 80 very detailed dioramas depicting a variety of things, from the American Civil War to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The fanciest diorama was one that must have been almost 100ft long! It started from British Columbia on one end and slowly moved across Canada, passing Calgary, Regina, Toronto and Quebec before finally reaching the Maritimes. All the proper physical and human landmarks were there, the Rocky Mountains section even had the Spiral Tunnels and Rogers Pass!

With Miniature World done, we had done all the sightseeing that we wanted to do. However, it was only 1pm and we had originally intended to take the 7pm ferry back to the mainland. For lunch, we headed to the place we were supposed to have dinner at last night: The Noodle Box. It’s supposedy a “Southeast Asian Noodle Bar”, but it’s more a chic noodle place, with meals served in either porcelain bowls or those Chinese square takeout boxes.

I was craving for a spicy soupy dish, so I got the Tom Yam soup with shrimp. While waiting in line to order, I noticed a little sign explaining how their “hotness” scale works, with the “hot” level being something like “fiery, but still nice“. Sounds good I though, so I got my meal done “hot”. Turns out that “hot” acutally means “burn your throat and leave your gasping for air“! The soup was so spicy I found it difficult to drink it at all. There was red pepper, intensely hot red chilies, and a spicy soup base to begin with. I’ve never had soup this spicy before, even in Singapore! The meal was OK overall I guess, the place had people coming in non-stop, so they must be doing something right, even with charging almost $9 for a bowl of noodles.

The fancy takeout box

Damn spicy soup!

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping in downtown, didn’t buy anything but nevertheless had fun walking around! In an effort to avoid rush hour (if there is one in Victoria), we left downtown early and got the ferry terminal at 515pm. We spent the next hour or so just chatting/eating/sleeping. The good thing about going early is that you get to park your car early, thus you get to the cafeteria before anyone else and get your food quickly. Got a White Spot burger which was tasty as always thanks to Triple O sauce. The fries weren’t too great though. The ride back was pretty choppy due to high winds, the captain even had to request that people sit down unless necessary. After lots of churning around in the chopy waves, we made it back to Tsawassen more or less on time, with a slight delay as the ferry before us broke down and couldn’t leave the dock.

And with that, our little trip to Victoria came to an end. Lots of fun packed into 3 short days, sightseeing, great food and those Cranium nights… if you have never tried Cranium, you really should!

Our first stop of the day was the Royal BC Musuem. Besides permanent exhibits such as the First Nations gallery, Natural History gallery and Modern History gallery, the museum also plays host to travelling exhibits. We were lucky enough to have the oppotunity to enjoy a collection of photographs taken by Linda McCartney back in the 60s. There were intimate portraits of such legends such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix, together with a collection of psychedelic memorabilia from the era like album covers and the like. There even was John Lennon’s “flower power” Rolls-Royce right next to the entrance!

What a paint job!

The Natural History gallery was full of dioramas depicting the typical flora and fauna of Britsh Columbia. BC is truly home to a diverse variety of landscapes, from coastal rainforest to alpine conditions.

Look at that HUGE walrus!

Our next stop was the Modern History gallery. This contains dioramas and a full scale mockup of early colonial British Columbia. There were sections devoted to mining, fishing, lumber and other traditionally important industries. They even managed to create a working waterwheel into the floor space, very impressive!

Peering into a Chinese medicinal shop.

I have no idea what that means.

The final part of the visit was to the First Nations exhibits. Photography is not allowed in this whole section, so you’ll have to go there to see the stuff yourself! Amongst all the various ancient artifacts were a full size mockup of a pit house, and a tribal chief’s home (or something like that).

The visit was definitely worth the money (~$8 for student admission), and I would highly recommend it to anyone going to Victoria. With that out of the way, we were starving and set off in search of lunch. We ended up at a place called Garlic Rose which served a wide selection of steak and seafood dishes. I ended up with a steak and lobster combo for only $19.95, Esther had fish and chips and our double-dating counterparts (Becki and Ketchup!) had pretty much the same thing, except without lobster. The food was delicious, you can’t go wrong with melt-in-your-mouth lobster tail and well seasoned sirloin. The food was so good I forgot to take pictures before I devoured the meal!

With our first stop and lunch out of the way, we headed back to the hotel to rest up and get ready to drive to Butchart Gardens to check out the christmas lightup. Butchart Gardens is probably Victoria’s most well known landmark, pretty much any tour of Victoria will include a drive up Hwy 17 for gawking tourists to snap pictures in front of blooming flowers. The christmas lightup was not too shabby, although $18/person for admission is kind of steep, especially in winter with no blooming flowers and not much else to do.

What a cute smile eh!

Posing in front of the christmas tree, no presents though…

A vain attempt to capture the lightup

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was getting late and our original dinner plan was thrown into disarray when we drove by and saw they were closed already (more on this later). We ended up just eating in the bar/lounge downstairs. Food was average, but it was made better by watching the Canucks win at the same time on a big screen (not really) TV.

Another game of Cranium brought an end to the day’s activities… tomorrow is the final day, check back to see what we did!